Suspended flooring and modular floor tiles have been used for numerous years in connection with improved safety, appearance, and function. In recent years, synthetic modular flooring products have been used for these purposes and more frequently used in connection with sporting events. Many of these flooring products, however, offer little to no impact absorbing characteristics resulting in increased fatigue or injury from walking, running, jumping, or other activities on the flooring. Namely, in order to ensure the top surface of the floor is sufficiently firm to provide “ball-bounce” characteristics and provide sufficient friction, synthetic floor tiles are made from a rigid or semi-rigid material which yields very little under normal use.
Attempts have been made to improve the impact absorbing characteristics of synthetic flooring products. Examples include, but are not limited to U.S. Pat. Nos. 7,587,865, 7,748,177, and 8,505,256, but each technology described in those cases contains deficiencies. Moreover, attempts have been made to improve the devices that connect adjacent modular flooring components together but those attempts also contain deficiencies. It is therefore desirable to have a synthetic flooring product with improved impact absorbing characteristics and improved locking devices.